A Pirate Bay founder was rearrested just hours after his release from jail

Gottfrid Svartholm, a founder of The Pirate Bay, was rearrested just hours after being freed from a Danish prison, TorrentFreak reports.

Svartholm, who is Swedish, was serving a multi-year sentence in Denmark and is now likely to be extradited back to Sweden, a decision he is appealing.

After losing an appeal in June, Svartholm had very few options but became eligible for parole in mid-August. Two days before he was released, however, the Swedish authorities issued an arrest warrant, a decision that only became apparent to Svartholm via his mother, TorrentFreak said. This new warrant led to his immediate arrest after being freed.

“[The new warrent was] never communicated properly to Gottfrid, neither from Sweden nor Denmark. We found out about it on our own,” Kristina Svartholm, his mother, told TorrentFreak.

The Swedish authorities initially wanted Svartholm to serve out the rest of his sentence in Denmark but this request was refused by the Danes. Depending on the outcome of a hearing that is happening on Friday, Svartholm will likely end up being extradited to Sweden.

“What Gottfrid wants to do now, more than anything else, is to get back to his developmental work within IT,” his mother told TorrentFreak. “And, of course, first of all: to sit by a keyboard again after nearly three years away from one.”

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